8dalejr.fan

Basically what happens is on multiple games, the game sometimes freezes, then the screen goes completely black, and I end up back on the desktop with a VPU Recover error.

This has been happening for a while. No hardware changes. These games worked fine before.

Tried to update the video card drivers to the latest 7.12 Catalysts, but the problem persists.

To me, it seems like it could be overheating or a dead card (only things that make sense) but I can't figure out what it is.

RagnarIV

I had a friend who had a similar issue, he had an x700pro, and the heatsink fan inside had stopped working, this caused the card to over heat and the games to crash as the card is under load. Open your case and see if the card fan is spinning at all, also please post system temperatures too. Also please give us your system specs too please!

8dalejr.fan

System Specs:
- Pentium 4 @ 3 GHz
- 1 Gig RAM
- ATI Radeon 9800XT 256 Mb. video card w/ Catalyst 7.12 Drivers
- 460 W Power Supply
- 120 Gig Hard Drive
- Windows XP Home Edition

System Temperatures (Immediately After Problem):
- CPU: 42°C
- Video Card: 80°C
- Video Card Ambient: 70°C
- Motherboard: 36°C
- Hard Drive: 45°C

RagnarIV

Yeah looks like there may be an issue with the cooler on your graphics card, I would recommend opening the case up and using can of air to clean the cooler, also check to see that if it has a fan, that it is spinning. 80C is too hot for a graphics card, you are getting the VPU recover because the graphics card is overheating.

You may need to replace the cooling on the card.

8dalejr.fan

An update:

When playing any game, now one of the following happens:

Scenario 1: The game momentarily freezes, then the screen goes completely black. Sometimes the computer will return me to my desktop with a "VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator because it stopped responding to commands from the driver" (not exact wording but something along those lines). Other times I have to do a hard reboot as the computer screen is black.

Scenario 2: The game freezes. I have to do a hard reboot to get out of it. Upon reboot, Windows tells me "Your system has recovered from a serious error." Although I never saw a blue screen, Event Viewer tells me the error is 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER.

I cleaned out my video card thoroughly today.

The idle temperatures are 5-10°C cooler now; I assume gaming temperatures will be cooler as well.

Idle now: 66-70°C.

I don't know if these temperatures are too hot or not. The case is COMPLETELY clean.

I will keep trying my games to let you know if the issue persists, but the freezes happened twice today (before I cleaned out the case).

My computer is placed between two desks, and the cables connecting everything aren't very long. I'll try move furniture, as I have to, to be able to run the case open and see if the fan is spinning.

RagnarIV

Those idle temperatures should be fine, what was happening is that your graphics card was shutting down due to overheating. 80C is way too hot for a graphics card. The VPU recover screen is you system trying to recover after the GPU has shut itself down. You should be fine now that you cleaned your case/card out. Keep us posted!

-Alan

8dalejr.fan

Thanks, will do.

8dalejr.fan

My old games which are less demanding (NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, Battlefield 2, F1 Challenge) appear to work fine now. The requirements aren't that high so my video card doesn't get that hot.

I tried the demo of Race07, but the problem happened again with that game. The screen went totally black, and a terrible screetching sound came out of the speakers.

Race07 has higher system requirements than my old games, but my computer surpasses them still.

I guess Race07 is heating up my video card too much with the eye candy, so I'll have to uninstall the demo.

Seems like I can't get any newer demanding games. Even though my system meets the requirements, the card still somehow manages to get too hot on them.

RagnarIV

I would monitor the temperature of you graphics card in game. See if it is still spiking. It may still be an issue with the cooling on it. It may be an issue with the game itself as it sounds like the game is crashing. Did you get the VPU recover screen again. Let us know what happens!

8dalejr.fan

I usually just check Everest as soon as I'm done gaming.

For example:
- Playing NR2003 for 2 hours = max temp of 75°C after
- Playing Race 07 demo for 5 minutes, then black screen = 78°C after A REBOOT

NR2003 works fine now. Race 07 doesn't work.

Card gets hottest with that game. It's very new and very pretty (nice graphics = kills my card).

Game didn't crash... did the following:
- Cursor had a big black square underneath it (like an artifact).
- Menu became unclickable.
- Screen went completely black.
- Green monitor light started flashing (lost signal?).
- Terrible noise came from the speaker.

It wouldn't get itself out of this one. CTRL+ALT+DEL didn't work. Looks like VPU Recover wasn't able to recover.

Had to do a hard shutdown and reboot.

RagnarIV

Can you either A.) describe the cooling on your card, or B.) post a link to pictures of your card?

You may need to replace the cooling on it if it continues to spike as its a temperature issue with the card.

8dalejr.fan

There is a single, small fan on the card.

Next time I open my case, I will take a picture of it and post it here.